Dear Friends wherever you are,I was thinking recently what an odd assortment of events/festivals we mark in the Autumn in this country: Harvest gives way to the witches' hats and pumpkins of Halloween; then it's Remembrance, and then straightaway the poppies and wartime films disappear, obliterated by the tinsel and crackers of Christmas for the next frenzied six weeks.

Of all these four events and festivals, only Remembrance has kept to its original purpose. Harvest used to be very much to thank God for all He has provided and to pray for future blessing and protection; Halloween was merely the eve of All Saints and then All Souls' Day; and Christmas, as Christians believe, is the birth of God Himself in His Son Jesus. When you look at it, it's the God but that has largely been taken out; Remembrance, being more about people than God, has stayed truer to its original purpose.

But if you take God out of Harvest, Halloween and Christmas, all you're left with is tins of food, Trick or Treat, and, finally, tinsel, food and exhaustion. What a desolate prospect! Thank God for God! For me he gives meaning, not only to these festivals, but to each day. The challenge, I find is to keep inviting Him in rather than just getting swept along!Best wishes for these next few busy months,Chris